Contribute your knowledge to the name Rachel

My youngest daughter was named "Rachel" by her dad. He insisted on naming at least one of the kids, and liked the names Barbara and Rachel. I thought both names sounded "old-fashioned", but of the two, Rachel was the better choice, even if he did like the name because of the character in "Blade Runner". Despite sounding like an old-lady name, I allowed her to be named Rachel. There were some benefits to the name at the time - old-fashioned names were coming into vogue (Emma, Emily, Abigail, etc), I'm from a Catholic family so everyone was happy that we chose a Biblical name (I didn't have the heart to tell them the inspiration for the name was a dark, Sci-Fi movie), and there are many nick-names a Rachel can go by that I love, like Rae and Shellie. I figured my daughter would appreciate the choice of nick-names. The name also went well with her last name. In the end she prefers to go by "Rachel" & she seems to like her name. We also call her Rach & Rachie often. My Rachel is beautiful and artistic, with a keen sense of fashion and a very good heart. So now when I think of the name Rachel, feelings of beauty, sophistication, creativity, intelligence, and a caring, loving soul comes to mind.

Rachel an OLD LADY'S NAME? No, no, no! Rachel is a very popular name for young girls.

I love my name but it's often confused with April. My mom even called me April once. I have had it pronounced Ra-shel several times, but mostly it's misspelled as Rachael. My friends thinks it's funny and nicknamed me roach. Some people can't even pronounce my name correctly they say (rah - kel)

My big sisters name is Rachel. Because we're English we can be lazy with our pronunciation and drop the 'L' sound. It kind of (Ray-cheow) haha, she gets really annoyed! We call her Raquel or Rach (Raych) most of the time.

My name is Rachel, and was born during the 80's during the height of the popularity for this name (so NO, it's not an "old lady name" as stated above). Once out of grammar school (where luckily there were no other Rachels in my grade), I didn't go a single year until college where I didn't have at least one class with another Rachel. There is even another Rachel with the same first, middle, and last name all spelled exactly the same as mine that lived in a neighboring town, who was born only 3 weeks before me, whose father was also named Michael, and who went to the same pediatrician! I even knew another Rachel who begged her parents to change her name when she was a teenager because she hated the commonality of it, unfortunately she chose a name that became popular in subsequent years: Emma. I don't even go by Rachel with my closest friends. They all call me Rach or Rae, one calls me Shell. I hate how common my name is, but I don't hate my name. Oh, and people are always misspelling it "Rachael" which is the less common spelling, AND misspronounce it, "Rah-shell"

My name is Rachel and I love it! Growing up I used to hate it when people would mispronounce my name by saying Rachelle (Ra-shell). It's a good name though, it's not one that you see often which I like. I had my share of nicknames too. I was an exceptional soccer player and my whole life I always played on teams that were a few age groups ahead of me, so one of the common nicknames that stemmed from that was "Baby Ray"/"Baby Ray Ray"... I learned to accept it. As I grew up that nickname went away thankfully, most people just call me Rach now.

Rachel \r(a)-chel\ as a girl's name is pronounced RAY-chel. It is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Rachel is "ewe, female sheep". Biblical: Jacob's wife, described as being "beautiful in form and countenance".

Rachel Zane, character in TV series Suits
Rachel Mariana Morgan - protagonist and narrator of "The Hollows" urban fantasy series by Kim Harrison
Rachel Elizabeth Dare, character in the "Percy Jackson & The Olympians" fantasy series by Rick Riordan
Rachel Green from the sitcom Friends, who spawned her own hair-do, The Rachel
Rachel Ferrier, a character played by Dakota Fanning in the movie War of the World
Rachel Berry from the TV series Glee
Rachel Wilcox, Lindsay Lohan's character in the film "Georgia Rule"
Rachel Mason, Headmistress of Waterloo Road in the hit BBC drama of the same name
Naughty Rachel, a character in the British TV Series Green Wing
Rachel, a supporting character (who later becomes playable in the Sigma re-make) in the 2004 Xbox video game Ninja Gaiden
Rachel, one of the six main characters of Animorphs
Rachel Carruthers, a character in the Halloween movie series
Rachel Gibson, a character in Season 5 of Alias
Rachel Greene, a character in the TV series ER
Rachel Kinski, a character in the Australian TV show Neighbours
Rachel Moore of Case Closed (Detective Conan)
Rachel Summers, a character in the Marvel Universe
Rachel Teller, a character in the Need for Speed Underground 2
Rachael, a character in the 1982 movie Blade Runner
Rachel Austen, a character in It Hurt to Be Strong
Rachel, Bible
French card games, the Queen of Diamonds is Rachel
Rachel White, the narrator and protagonist in Emily Griffith's book "Something Borrowed" and the movie of the same name
Rachel, a character in the Cliff McNish books The Doomspell Trilogy
Rachel Lynde, a character in the "Anne of Green Gables" book series
Rachel Dawes, Bruce Wayne's romantic interest in the Dark Knight trilogy
Rachel Gatina, a character on One Tree Hill
Rachel McGuire, character in later seasons of Boy Meets World
Rachel Brooks, a character on the TV series Justified